The Ugandan police in a rare operation briefly detained some 50 pupils in Amuru district on Tuesday, northern Uganda, for shunning classes, officers confirmed on Wednesday.
David Komakech, a special police constable who led the operation in Koch Goma sub-county in Amuru district, said they took actions following a tip-off from local leaders revealing that parents were often keeping their children from school.
Instead, the school children were assigned to do household work by their parents, he said.
"The police arrested four parents and 50 pupils between 12 and 16 years old during the operation. However, all those arrested were later released with a caution," he said.
"Most parents claim that they are sick, weak and unable to work, so they make the children work for them instead of allowing them to go to school," he elaborated.
"We have just held them for hours and released them but next time we shall bite seriously," Komakech warned.
The majority of those pupils arrested were in primary six and seven who were supposed to be preparing for Primary Leaving Exams, he said.
Amuru district police commander George Sabiti said the operation was aimed at ensuring that government's universal primary education program was not frustrated by irresponsible parents.
"Government is spending billions of shillings for free universal primary education for children and we have to ensure that every child attends school," he said.
"My mother is sick, she told me to go to the garden and get some cassava for lunch," said Josephine Acan, an 11-year-old pupil of Koch Goma P7 school.
Monica Arach, an 8-year-old girl, said she had to escape school to baby sit her twin sisters as her mother was busy with farming and other household work.
Koch Goma LCIII Chairperson John Bosco Okullu said the daily attendance in most primary schools in the area has been low since opening of second term last Monday.
"On Monday I went to several primary schools and the attendance is appalling," he revealed.
In Lamina-atoo primary school, there were only four pupils attending school instead of 428, while in Kalang only 55 out of 381 showed up and in Coorom there were only 14 pupils out of 400, according to him.
He urged people at all levels to fight absenteeism in schools, which has frustrated government's free universal education program.
The Deputy Head teacher of Koch Goma P7 School Agade Vesrito said children in Koch Goma perform poorly because parents never valued education.
During the dry season, parents engage their children in hunting and during the rainy season, they sent them for farming activities, he complained.
"Most parents leave their children with teachers and they don't bother to find out whether their children are performing well in school or not," he said.
Northern Uganda is currently slowly recovering from a two decade war between rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government troops.
The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead and over2 million others displaced while thousands of children missed out education in the meantime.
Source:Xinhua
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